Botched Burglary Ends With Tweaky Suicide Standoff In Cow Hollow

A 22-year-old woman wearing pajama pants and wielding a hatchet broke into a home on Lyon street in Cow Hollow Sunday afternoon. When the residents returned home around 3 p.m. to find that she had already discovered the shotgun they kept in the house, the resulting 911 called ended in a two-hour, suicidal SWAT team standoff.

According to ABC7, officers responding to the scene found the woman standing in the window of the home holding a shotgun that belonged to the residents. When she refused to come outside and turned the shotgun on herself, the SWAT team pulled up, bringing along one of those heavily armored riot vehicles just for safe measure. After two hours and fifteen minutes, the woman finally came to the door carrying the hatchet and the shotgun. She tossed them on the sidewalk, per police orders, and was quickly hauled away snarling.

The Cow Hollow residents apparently went nuts for the spectacle, as well. At least that's the picture we get from KTVU's video report, which spends a lot of time focusing on the sleepy neighborhood angle of the story. "This is probably one of the quietest neighborhoods anywhere in San Francisco," said one man who works in Union Square and lives in the Presidio.

As it turns out the shotgun is legally registered to the resident, was unloaded at the time and was also locked with a trigger lock. So, the woman wouldn't have been able to do much damage with it anyway and somebody somewhere owes an apology to responsible gun owners.

No word yet on the woman's identity or whether she is suspected in any other recent burglaries, but in related hatchet news: this is the second instance of hatchet crime in San Francisco in a month. The third in the area if you count this brutal alleged hatchet murder in Sacramento.